So what was in Sadie's memoirs that made Jude so terrified? Actor wins court battle to change ex-wife's tell-all book

While it takes a lot to dent Sadie Frost's inimitable ability to bounce back after a knock, even her closest friends admit that this week her mood has been 'dark'.

She has sighed heavily while preparing her favourite beetroot, goat's cheese and quinoa salad.

Even the lovely view onto the waving bamboo and landscaped yellow brick road in her 100ft garden in London's Belsize Park has not cheered her up.

New love: Jude Law with Sienna Miller, who had also between a source of conflict between the actor and Sadie Frost

Her refrain, when she rallies enough energy to mush up another load of hummus to stock up her giant steel fridge, is: 'Well, we all know about karma, don't we?'

Because, after this week, she is rather hoping that her ex-husband, the actor Jude Law, gets his comeuppance sooner rather than later.

And who can blame her? For not ten minutes after he had left a jolly visit to see her and their children last week, she received a 100-page writ from Jude's solicitors.

Why? Sadie has been writing her autobiography - and the writ sought an injunction against her, in respect of the memoirs she has already submitted to her publisher John Blake.

It demanded all photos of their children were removed from the book, Crazy Days.

This was a surprise to Sadie, as Jude hadn't objected when their children were pictured with her in i-D magazine last year.

The pair have two sons, Rafferty, 12, and Rudy, seven; and one daughter, Iris, ten.

Sadie has a son, Finlay, 19, from her first marriage, to Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp.

The writ also asked for many passages in the book relating to their marriage to be taken out.

'There may have been some private intimacies that Jude felt were not appropriate,' sniffed one of his friends this week.

Naturally, everyone suspects that Jude's problems relate to that notorious drug-soaked period in the early Nineties when the couple allegedly took part in 'wife swapping' with the rocker Danny Goffey and his wife, Pearl Lowe.

Hollywood: The young couple at an Oscars party in Los Angeles in 2000. Their relationship soured and they later divorced

There also seems to have been concern over disclosure of the reasons their marriage ended.

Although officially the blame for the break-up was placed on Sadie and her post-natal depression, there were plenty of rumours about Jude's behaviour.

Indeed, when Jude later cheated on his fiancee Sienna Miller with the children's nanny in 2005, Sadie is said to have retorted: 'Now she knows how it feels.'

So, what has been taken out of the book? And what is the situation between Jude and Sadie?

They have had a turbulent summer. Most recently there was a row when Sienna decided to get their son Rudy's hair cut without consulting Sadie.

Previously, Sienna had been banned from Iris's ballet recital - and there was also an earlier brouhaha over whether Daddy was getting married again, or not, and what role the children may play in the ceremony.

A friend who has read the book tells me she is surprised that legal action has been taken. Apparently, the content focuses on Sadie and is restrained on the subject of Jude.

Indeed, the tome opens with a particularly shocking incident from Sadie's childhood, rather than her troubled marriage.

It described Sadie being lashed to a cross by her father, a psychedelic artist, as part of an art installation - and much of the rest of the book deals with her bohemian childhood.

Sadie's father, who had undiagnosed hepatitis C, which caused mood swings, seems to have been an unusual character.

She had nine half-siblings and was introduced to Indian religions by her mother aged four. She says the family was one of loving anarchy.

Sadie fondly remembers being driven from Camden to Morocco with her sister Jessie sitting in a washing-up bowl so she didn't get hot; nights during the trip were spent on a mattress in the back of the Citroen 2CV.

Connected: The couple with fellow British actors Sean Pertwee, left, Ewan McGregor, second right, and Jonny Lee Miller, right

As a teenager she fell in with a fast crowd and met her first husband, Gary Kemp, when she was dancing in the video for his band's hit Gold.

He has read the book and apparently his verdict was 'wonderful, darling'. Her best friend Kate Moss also read it and had no objections.

Jude, though, had concerns from the start and wrote her a legal letter in March expressing this. But Sadie thought his problems were forgotten - until she got the writ last week.

Some of the bits taken out are mild domestic details - by showbiz standards - along the lines of Sadie's recent admission that she packed Finlay off to college with a suitcase full of condoms.

But a black line has been put through passages relating to liaisons of both Sadie and Jude which, I'm told, have never been published.

Apparently, Sadie felt she had no choice but to comply with Jude, especially as he had chosen to act so close to publication. The book is due out on September 4.

In a statement, Mark Thomson, a partner at law firm Atkins Thomson, said: 'My client . . . Mr Law is pleased that the parties have been able to resolve this speedily. He has been able to protect his and his children's privacy and Ms Frost is able to proceed with her latest project.'

A friend of Sadie's said that she feels bruised and unjustly treated.

Happier times: Jude Law, left, Sadie Frost and actor friend Jonny Lee Miller attend a film premier together when the couple were still married

'The mood has been a bit dark, to be honest, this week. For Jude to go so far and to threaten what he has . . . I think the feeling is that this is a hammer to crack a nut,' he said.

'His lawyers demanded to see the manuscript and Sadie was not afraid for it to be shown, as it is the truth.

'What was in the writ? Well, it's 100 pages long, so that's not a few corrections.'

The feeling on Sadie's side is that she has done nothing wrong - certainly not compared with her ex-husband, who last year fathered a daughter by Samantha Burke, a fame-hungry model who he barely knew.

She feels deeply hard-done by.

Her friend told me: 'The irony is that Sadie thought they were getting on so well she invited Sienna for a clear-the-air dinner last week.'

Jude's supporters, though, say he was entirely within his rights. One tells me: 'Sadie knows how he feels about pictures of the kids.

'He doesn't like them being written about or pictured. His view is they are entitled to a private life.'

Despite the legal action, relations between Jude and Sadie are said to be surprisingly positive.

Jude seems to have been on Sadie's side when it came to Sienna taking Rudy for a haircut last month without telling anyone.

The word is he has asked Sienna to apologise to Sadie and feels his ex-wife's reaction was to be expected.

Hence the tension between Jude and Sienna, who are said to be bickering only a few months after reuniting.

Succesful: Jude Law receives the President's Award at the 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festiva in the Czech Republic

Sadie and Jude - mostly - have a good working relationship. They speak almost every day and go to events, such as sports day, together.

Jude's friend said: 'Their relationship is very different to most divorced parents - it's like nothing else in the world.'

Although there was considerable acrimony when they separated - police were called to the marital home more than once - and a protracted legal battle, which left Law complaining he was 'skint' after paying Sadie's settlement, they are now on good terms.

Sadie's friends suggest that Jude has never 'moved on' emotionally from their intense, sexually explosive liaison, which saw him married at 22 and drawn into the louche world of drugs and partner swapping.

A friend of Jude's said: 'She was his first big love and Jude once told me how she blew his mind. I don't think you just discard that afterwards.'

Indeed, they always seem to have respected each other's strengths as parents. In the four years between liaisons with Sienna, he seemed to be with his ex-wife and children more often that not.

He did school runs, took them to the park for ice lollies and there were Saturday movie nights together.

Sadie said: 'We're best friends, we're parents and we're bringing up our children the best we possibly can.'

Law, a middle-class boy who was sent to private school by his teacher parents, has strong views about his duties in this area.

He failed to find a serious girlfriend after Sienna - the nearest he came was a six-month affair with magazine executive Kim Hersov three years ago.

Apart from that, his romances were all strictly casual.

Unfortunately, now that he is back with Sienna there seem to have been a string of clashes with his ex-wife.

This must be very tricky for Jude, 37, who would like all parties involved to get along.

Sadie now suspects Jude is about to marry - despite official denials that there is a wedding planned for this summer. The two of them have co-ordinated diaries as to who will have the children in which weeks.

When he and Sienna got engaged last time, Sadie was disappointed to learn the news from their children, rather than Law himself.

You can only hope that Sienna is prepared to let the groom's ex-wife be closely involved in all of the plans which involve the children.

Otherwise their wedding day may just end with the wrong sort of fireworks.